Tuesday night was a new low for “The Worldwide Leader in News,” as CNN’s 9 pm news hour experienced the lowest viewer demographic numbers in 15 years.
The 9 pm slot, currently occupied by Pier’s Morgan Tonight, experienced a mere 39,000 viewers in the 25-54 age demographic. The drop in viewers was enough to place CNN dead last in ratings, behind Fox News’ Hannity, MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, and HLN’s Dr. Drew.
These numbers represent part of the overall decline in primetime viewers that CNN has experienced over the last couple years.
After losing the top spot in primetime ratings to Fox News in 2002, CNN steadily maintained the number two spot until recently in 2010, when they were first surpassed MSNBC. In the past 24 months, MSNBC has consistently exceeded CNN in primetime ratings, drawing more viewers in 22 of those months.
The past few months have not been good for CNN’s primetime lineup, both in terms of ratings and controversy.
In March, CNN reporter Gary Tuchman reported on AC360 that the network had used enhanced audio techniques to isolate George Zimmerman’s last words before he shot Trayvon Martin. The report sparked widespread outrage amongst members of the African American community because it suggested Zimmerman had called Trayvon a racial slur before shooting him, indicating that a hate crime had been committed. Eventually, CNN was forced to rescind their initial claim when forensic audio experts examined the tape and found the word in question was not a racially related.
Piers Morgan has received much criticism for his interview style. While claiming to be a political moderate, Morgan’s persistent disparagement of guests with political views opposite to his has displayed a high level of intolerance for conservatives.
In an April 30 interview with conservative author Jonah Goldberg, Piers Morgan repeatedly belittled Goldberg for denouncing the Obama 2012 campaign’s ads that implied Mitt Romney wouldn’t have gone after Osama bin Laden, while ignoring most of Goldberg’s rebuttals.
Additionally, Morgan has become rabidly intolerant toward the idea of preserving traditional marriage, even going as far to begin his interview with Family Research Council President and pro-traditional marriage advocate Tony Perkins by asking why he was “so implacably opposed to two loving people getting married?” Morgan also claimed that he would have more respect for opponents of gay marriage if they simply admitted that they hate gay people.
The partisan nature that has overtaken CNN has undoubtedly contributed to it’s decline in ratings over the last two years. Once a respectable source for both national and international news, CNN has become a source for biased reporting, based on misrepresentation of facts. As more viewers become aware of the ideological favoritism that has overtaken primetime CNN, ratings will likely continue to decline.
